From the Research of Brad and Sherry Steiger:  Haunted Highways and Hotels By Brad Steiger   Everyone loves a good ghost story. The creepy old mansion. The winding staircase with the steps that creak even though no one visible is descending them. The shimmering form that stands at the bedside, softly whispering a mournful dirge for a lost love. Tales of haunted houses and the ghosts who occupy them have always been popular, and their fascination holds firm with the youth of today. In fact, if anything their popularity is growing with regular television series devoted to ghost hunting in peoples' homes and several major motion picture currently starring in tales of ghosts, premonitions, and haunted houses. However, moldering old homes aren't the only places where ghosts may be seen. Mysterious entities from the Other Side may also be encountered haunting highways, country roads, and hotels. Here are a few ghost stories that one shall read in Haunted Highways: She passed the car--and it disappeared Mary Simpkins of Portland, Oregon, said that she was driving east out of Bend on the Bend-Burns Highway early one morning in May 2001: "The road is raised up somewhat--banked--from the desert and it is a long, easy slope down from Horse Ridge. I wasn't going very fast, just enjoying the drive, when I came up on a black sedan moving slowly. I hit my passing gear and zoomed past. As I passed, I looked in to see if there was anyone I knew in the sedan. There was just an older man and woman who looked back at me." But when Mary glanced in her rearview mirror, just as soon as she had passed the black sedan, there was no car behind her. "The highway behind me was empty." Mary had a frightening thought that the older couple had somehow gone over the bank, which, at that point, was several feet high. "I came to a quick stop at the edge of the road and got out," she said. "I went to the back of my car and looked and looked, but I couldn't see the black sedan anywhere. There were no access roads around or any other cars around. Besides, the car was only out of my sight for a couple of seconds." As Mary stood there looking around for some sign of the mysterious black sedan with the older couple inside, "a light breeze sprang up and blew across me--and I can tell you that the hairs on the back of my neck and my arms stood up. I jumped in my little car, locked all four doors, and got out of there. I was both frightened and puzzled. I guess I still am. I still get that creepy hair-rising-on-back-of-neck-and-arms feeling whenever I recall the car that disappeared and the breeze that sprang up out of nowhere." Tribal ghosts spook the Pocahontas Parkway toll plaza On July 15, 2002, the driver of a delivery truck reported seeing three Native Americans approaching the recently opened Pocahontas Parkway toll plaza on state Route 895 in eastern Henrico County, Virginia. In a report filed by the toll taker to whom he related the account, he had seen three breech-clothed warriors carrying torches walking in the middle of the highway. He blasted his horn to warn two more torch-wielding men who were clearly illuminated by his headlights. He wondered if some tribes people were staging some bizarre kind of protest against the parkway. The toll taker took the driver's report and added it to the list of stories from motorists who had seen strange unexplainable phenomena. She knew that although she would report the incident to state troopers who would be right on the case, they would find no Native Americans parading with torches protesting anything. Troopers who patrol the graveyard shift along the Pocahontas Parkway said that they had responded to dozens of calls similar to the one the delivery truck driver made on July 15. The first was on July 1, then two nights later, when plaza workers reported hearing Indian drums, chants, whoops, and the cries of what seemed to be hundreds of voices. From time to time there would be seen the vague outlines of people running back and forth in the darkness. An engineer working nights to complete the construction of the bridge in Parkway Plaza said that he and a group of workmen had seen an Indian sitting astride a horse watching them from below on the interstate. They were about to tell him to move on, that he wasn't allowed to ride a horse on the interstate, when both rider and horse disappeared. The car faded away, like an old photograph Early on a Sunday evening in 1997, Max Tingley was driving with his family outside of Albany, New York, when he became impatient with the way in which an old car, which he guessed to be a 1941 Chevrolet sedan, was slowing traffic. Max figured that the car was going or coming to some antique auto show or rally and he wanted to be tolerant, but he was returning from a family outing at Lake George and he wanted to get home to do some paperwork. "I had to be at work early the next morning with my presentation ready to go, and I had some factors that I needed to sharpen," Max said. "As I approached nearer to the Chevy, I was surprised that it didn't have those special license plates that owners of those old cars are supposed to display. I hated to be a jerk, but I really blasted my horn, something I usually don't do when following a slow-moving vehicle." Max recalled that he could see the driver of the Chevy turn around and look at him with what appeared to be an expression of total shock. "I expected an angry, hostile look, and maybe an obscene gesture or two, but this guy looked as if I had genuinely startled him," Max said. "He looked as though he had somehow imagined himself to be driving all alone on the highway." Then, before the incredulous eyes of Max, his wife, and their three children, the old Chevrolet sedan in front of them began to fade away. "It was as if it were some old photograph dissolving bit by bit before us, just fading away until there was nothing left to prove that it had ever been there," Max said. "The antique Chevy and its driver had completely disappeared in about thirty seconds."   Many ghosts haunt the General Wayne Inn *Located on the old Lancaster road way between Philadelphia and Radner, the General Wayne Inn has been in continuous operation since 1704 when Robert Jones, a Quaker, decided to provide travelers with a restaurant and a place of lodging. During the Revolutionary War, the establishment, originally called the Wayside Inn, played host to General George Washington and the Marquis de la Fayette, as well as a number of their adversaries, the British Redcoats and their Hessian mercenaries. The Wayside was renamed the General Wayne Inn in 1793 honor of a local hero, General Anthony Wayne. When Barton Johnson bought the General Wayne Inn in 1970, he was well aware of its reputation for being haunted. Previous guests had claimed encounters with the ghosts of men dressed in Revolutionary era uniforms. The ghost of Edgar Allen Poe, a frequent guest when he was alive, according to the old register, had been reported in a room known as the Franklin Post Office. Employees working in the bar area, as well as the guests seated there, often saw dozens of wine and other liquor glasses in a wooden rack begin to shake violently for no apparent reason. Ludwig, the spirit of a Hessian soldier, materialized for many nights in the bedroom of Mike Benio, a contractor. Ludwig begged Benio to unearth his bones, which had been buried in the basement of the inn, and give them a proper burial in a cemetery. When Barton Johnson returned from a vacation, Benio asked permission to excavate a certain area of the cellar that was under the parking lot. Here, Benio found fragments of pottery and some human bones. After giving the remains a proper burial, the ghost of Ludwig was at peace and no longer manifested at the General Wayne Inn. One night, Johnson placed a tape recorder in the bar. The next morning during playback, he could clearly hear the sounds of bar stools being moved about, the water faucet being turned on and off, and glasses catching the water.   Route 666 will always be "the Devil's Road Although U.S. Route 666 will soon be officially known as U.S. Route 491 or 393, the legend of Camino del Diablo, "the Devil's Road," will be long remembered. The original naming of the highway had nothing to do with the Number of the Beast, 666, as given in Revelation, the last book in the Bible. It was so designated because it was the sixth branch of an interstate route then number U.S. 60. The section linking Chicago to Los Angeles became the legendary Route 66. And the Four Corners detour from Route 66 was renumbered 666 in August 1926. But some say labeling the road with those numerals made it Satan's own road to perdition. The 190 miles of U.S. 666 starts at Gallup, New Mexico, wends its way through 70 miles of Colorado, then ends in Monticello, Utah. According to many folks' statistics, the ill-named highway has a incredibly high accident rate, and they know some of the reasons why this is so. According to numerous eyewitness accounts, on nights of the full moon, a black, 1930s vintage Pierce-Arrow roadster has appeared and run scores of cars, trucks, and motorcycles off the road. The ghostly automobile has been linked to at least five deaths. Dr. Avery Teicher of Phoenix spent ten years documenting reports of the phantom Pierce-Arrow and the howling hellhounds that materialize to terrorize anyone foolhardy enough to pull off Route 666 and admire the desert landscape. According to Dr. Teicher, two members of a biker gang had both of their arms chewed off by the fiendish ghost dogs and a third biker had 90 percent of his face eaten away. The least threatening of all reports from the Devil's Highway are those of a phantom female hitchhiker who vanishes whenever someone stops to give her a ride.   Tales of the Phantom Hitchhiker Mary, a lovely young blonde who is leaving the dance hall, asks for a ride toward Resurrection Cemetery, saying that she lives down that way. As people drive her home, she asks them to stop in front of the cemetery gates on Archer Avenue in Chicago. She gets out of the car, runs across the road, and dematerializes at the gate. The Phantom Hitchhiker may well be among the best-known and most universal of all ghost stories, campfire tales, and, some say, urban legends. In one familiar version, a college student driving on a lonely country road late one rainy night is startled to see a young woman walking along the side of the road. He pulls over and asks her if she wants a ride. She appears a bit dazed and she is soaked to the skin. With a mumbled word of thanks, she gets inside. The man reaches behind him, grabs his sweater from the backseat, and offers it to the hitchhiker. She smiles her thanks and drapes the sweater over her shoulders, informing him that she has to get home to see her parents. The driver notices for the first time that her face and hands are scratched and bleeding, and he asks what happened to her. She explains that her car slid off the road and into a ditch. She had been standing there for what had seemed like hours, hoping for help, before she decided to walk the rest of the way to her parents' home. He tells her that there is no problem taking her right to her parents' front door. She thanks him, gestures into the darkness ahead and says that the house is only a few miles ahead. After a few minutes, she points to the lights of a house down a very short lane. She asks him to stop, and she gets out of the car. He protests that he would be happy to drive her the rest of the way, but she is already running away into the night. As he drives on, he berates himself for not asking her name, but then he remembers that she still wears his sweater. That will be his excuse to drive back to her parents' home and formally make her acquaintance. Two days later, the student drives back to his mystery girl's home and knocks on the door. He is surprised when a very elderly woman opens the door and invites him to step inside. As he looks about the interior of the front parlor, he notices a framed portrait of the beautiful young girl, and he asks the woman if her granddaughter is home. Following the student's gaze to the portrait, the woman begins to weep. Her darling daughter, she said, is still trying to come home. The student listens incredulously as the woman tells him that her daughter had been killed in an automobile accident on a dark and rainy night over 40 years before. He leaves the old woman, concluding that she must be crazy. The hitchhiker he had picked up that night was no more than nineteen years old. And she was very much alive. As he passes a small rural cemetery, something blowing in the wind on one of the grave markers catches his eye. When he enters the graveyard to investigate, he finds his sweater draped over a tombstone that marks the final resting place of a young woman who had died forty years ago. Misty Miss Laura warns others to prepare to follow her Drive the lonely stretch of Arkansas Highway 64, especially on a rainy night, and you will be likely to sight the tormented spirit of Laura Starr Latta, who died a month before her twentieth birthday in 1899. Motorists have claimed to have seen Laura's small, frail frame inside a white nightgown standing on the side of the road across from the cemetery where her body lies. Some old stories say that Laura was accosted by a gang and beaten to death on the way to her wedding. All that is known for certain is that she died a month before her twentieth birthday in 1899. The inscription on her tombstone reads Gentle Stranger passing by, As you are now, once was I. As I am now, so you must be. Prepare yourself to follow me.   This phantom hitchhiker's gaze chills to the bone The ghost that haunts the covered bridge on Hollow Road outside of Stowe, Vermont, is said to be that of a young bride who was left waiting at the altar by an irresponsible groom. The jilted woman left the church, heading for her elusive lover's home near the bridge on Hollow Road. As she was crossing the bridge, something startled her horse, causing it to bolt and throw her to her death on the rocks below the bridge. Traditionally, in the wee hours of morning, the sorrowing bride returns to search for the lover who betrayed her and humiliated her by jilting her on their wedding day. Motorists traveling the road late at night have reported seeing the image of a young woman dressed in a bridal gown driving her carriage resolutely toward the covered bridge. Some have reported making eye contact with the angry ghost and state that the experience chilled them to the bone. A State-by-State Guide to Haunted Highways & Hotels There is not a single state in the United States that does not have its own stories of ghosts, apparitions, hitchhiking phantoms, haunted highways and hotels. If individuals were so disposed, they could actually drive across America visiting nothing but haunted hotels and spotting ghosts on the highways. This book will include a directory of all 50 states (and if the editors like, the Canadian provinces) and provide where the reader may find ghostly automobiles, spook lights, mysterious motel rooms, and eerie spirits at the side of the road. Here is a very small sampling:   Alaska *Room 201 of the Courtyard by Marriot in Anchorage is haunted by a man who was found dead in that room. Another ghost named Ken roams the parking lot and the courtyard. A phantom cat is often reported in rooms 103 and 107.   Arizona *The rebuilt Pioneer Hotel in Tucson is said to be haunted by the spirits of those who died in a fire in the building in the past. *Ghostly miners with their lighted headlamps have been sighted in the San Miguel Magma cooper mine. *The picturesque old Monte Vista Hotel provides a marvelous place for an overnight stay on the way to or from the Grand Canyon. Guests who stay there may encounter the "Phantom bellboy," who knocks on doors and announces, "Room service," in a muffled voice. Others claim to have seen the wispy image of a woman strolling through an upstairs corridor. *Guests at the San Carlos Hotel in Phoenix have complained about the noisy children in the halls. Some frustrated guests who have nearly grabbed one of the little rascals have been astonished to see the child disappear before their eyes. The old San Carlos Hotel was built sometime in the late 1920s on the site of Phoenix's first adobe elementary school.   California *The spirit of a young woman, who in the 1920s sought to hide her unwelcome pregnancy from her parents by leaping into Stowe Lake, can be seen walking in despair around Strawberry Hill in the Stowe Lake Golden Gate Park near San Francisco. *Constructed in 1771, the old Mission of San Antonio de Padua is located in the central California mountains of the Santa Lucia range, thirty miles north of Paso Robles. The Mission remains an enchanted and haunted place, and those who stay overnight often catch sight of the ghosts of several monks and the mysterious entity that manifests as a headless woman on horseback. *The sprawling Brookdale Lodge, built in 1924 in the Santa Cruz Mountains near Boulder Creek, California, was a popular hideaway for gangland kingpins in the 1930s. Later, the Lodge was a favorite of film legends Marilyn Monroe, Joan Crawford, and Tyrone Power. The colorful inn, which features a brook running through the dining room, has a number of "cold spots," which indicate haunted areas. The most frequently sighted spirit entity is that of a small girl dressed very formally in 1940s-style clothing. The ghost is thought to be that of the five-year-old who drowned in the brook sometime in the late 1940s. *The ghosts of a girl in a prom dress and a boy wearing a football-letter sweater are seen in the top row of the bleachers at Bakersfield High School. *The sound of marching ghosts and a number of haunted rooms have kept many a guest awake throughout the night at the Horton Grand Hotel in San Diego. *A headless man, thought to be the ghost of a victim of the 1989 San Francisco earthquake, knocks on the windows of cars driving towards Oakland on the Bay Bridge. *Apparitions of weird entities haunt the 18th floor and the parking garage at the Los Angeles Airport Marriott. Guests have reported strange odors and sounds and being engulfed by feelings of absolute terror.   Colorado *The spirits of laborers who died building Gold Camp Road, originally a railroad line from Colorado Springs to Cripple Creek, are often sighted by those who travel the road late at night.   Connecticut The 165-year-old The MisFitz Inn, in Southbury is haunted by a ghost known affectionately as Sadie the Lady, who, in the 1890s, was found dead in her room above the tavern, an apparent suicide. Ever since her tragic end, Sadie has been held responsible for strange noises coming from empty rooms, overturned chairs in the bar, and water being dumped on unsuspecting patrons and employees.   Florida *The "Blue House" of the Sweet Water Bed and Breakfast Inn in Gainesville has a ghost that may hearken back to the days when the place was a plantation. The maids complain of furniture moving around, and some guests feel the spirit pressing down on their chests at night.   Georgia *Before guests may stay in room 204 at the 1790 Inn in Savannah, they must sign a waiver at the front desk stating that the management is not responsible for any items of clothing stolen by "Anne," the ghost who haunts the inn. *Many researchers claim that hundreds of hotels, inns, and private homes harbor ghosts in Savannah, Georgia's oldest city, settled in 1733, the scene of a fierce Revolutionary War battle, three deadly Yellow Fever epidemics, and a harsh Civil War period of occupation.   Illinois *For years now, witnesses have seen the ethereal form and heard the sobs and cries of the Sobbing Woman of Archer Woods Cemetery near Chicago. *Witnesses over the decades have sighted more than 100 glowing ghosts in Bachelor's Grove Cemetery in Chicago.   Indiana *Nighttime security officers at the Old Central State Hospital in Indianapolis claim a nightmarish cacophony of screams, groans, and cries for help and sightings of people who vanish.   Kentucky *The ghost of a girl in a prom dress is seen at the top of the hill on Mitchell Hill Road, Louisville, near the spot where she and her date are said to have been killed on prom night. *The ghost of a male student who was shot and killed in the lobby of Meyzek Middle School has haunted the school since the 1930s.   Louisiana *Some guests craving a ghostly encounter choose the third floor rooms of The Castle Inn in New Orleans. The bed and breakfast is haunted by the playful spirit of a little girl and by a black man who burned to death in one of the wood sheds. *Numerous ghosts appear at various places in the French Quarter, but locals warn against a handsome specter of an alleged real-life vampire who still takes delight in assaulting women.   Maine *The 200year-old Kennebunk Inn, Kennebunkport,is haunted by a friendly ghost named Silas Perkins, who delights in levitating champagne glasses and tossing beer mugs around the bar. The Kennebunk Inn is a favorite of former President George H. W. Bush, because it is near his seafront estate   Maryland *Fort McHenry shelters a host of ghosts who still vigilantly guard Baltimore. Lights, shadowy figures, and voices have been reported for many decades. *The house of Edgar Allan Poe in Baltimore is said to be haunted by the spirit of a rather rotund female dressed in gray. Those wishing a glimpse of the ghost of the master of the macabre are said to have a better chance at Westminster Church graveyard, where Poe is buried beside his wife Virginia.   Massachusetts *Boston Commons is the home for many ghosts, including two aristocratic women in 19th century attire, who vanish when witnesses approach them. *Some people say that at least 50 ghosts walk the streets and hotel hallways of Nantucket Island. Almost any place of lodging near the town's historic section harbors its share of unseen guests. Even the Coast Guard station is haunted. When author Peter Benchly was on the island writing his bestseller Jaws, he encountered the ghost of an old man dressed in eighteenth century clothing. The entity sat in front of a fireplace in a rocking chair, and Benchly insists that he was not dreaming.   Michigan *A construction worker fell from a scaffolding when a new gym was being added to Divine Child High School in Dearborn, and witnesses say the building is haunted by his spirit.   Mississippi *In the late 1700s, Madeline was murdered by the jealous wife of Richard King, the owner of King's Tavern in Natchez For over 200 years, patrons have regularly reported seeing the ghost of a slender woman who stands defiantly before them, her hands on her hips. To add to the color and allure of the haunted tavern, in the 1930s a woman's skeleton was found sealed in a brick fireplace with a jeweled dagger in her chest.   Missouri *The ghosts of young girls in long white dresses have been sighted merrily playing together in Elmwood Cemetery in Kansas City. *Many individuals claim that the entire shoreline around Houston Lake in Kansas City--with emphasis on the beach area--is haunted by some very bizarre entities. *Six Flags Theme Park in St. Louis is home to the ghost of a little girl, a spirit named Stella, and a bizarre entity that makes an eerie squealing noise, much like a pig. *Witnesses have claimed to have heard babies crying in Coopers Cemetery outside of St. Louis. Others report the ghost of an old man carrying a lantern.   New Mexico *Guests at the Desert Sands Motel on W140 near Albuquerque report cold spots, ghostly voices, and doors that unlock and open of their own volition. *A glimpse of an old guest register at the St. James Hotel reads like a "Who's Who of the Wild West": Billy the Kid, Pat Garrett, Bat Masterson, Black Jack Ketchum, Doc Holliday, Buffalo Bill Cody ....Almost any room in this 120-year-old hotel--a favorite of gunfighters in the 1880s--will produce an active spirit encounter. However, if you should decide to give the St. James a try, it would probably be best to avoid Room 18. Things got a little too wild in that room back in the 1880s, and the spirits there are too hostile and aggressive for most folks.   North Carolina *When the Clyde Erwin High School was built just outside Asheville in the 1970s, the Old County Home Graveyard was disturbed, thereby causing many restless spirits to haunt the new building.   Ohio *The ghost of a little blond, blue-eyed girl in a blue dress haunts King's Island theme park in Cincinnati. She is said to be joined by spirits haunting the observation deck of the Eiffel Tower, the roller coaster, and the Octopus ride.   Oregon *The ghost of a hanged horse thief and his dog haunt the camp ground at Scapponia Park outside of Portland. *The Villa St. Rose School for Girls in Portland is haunted by the spirits of small children who died there when the place was an orphanage maintained by nuns.   Pennsylvania *There are many reports of visitors witnessing spirit re-enactments of segments of the great battles that took place near Gettysburg on July 1-3, 1863. Frequently cited are areas near Devil's Den, Cemetery Hill, and Gettysburg National Military Park.   Texas *On the outskirts of El Paso, many witnesses claimed to have seen "El Muerto," the "dead one," galloping through the desert with his head hanging by a rawhide throng from the saddle of his ghostly steed . *Ysleta High School in El Paso is haunted by the ghosts of a cheerleader who committed suicide in a restroom and by a small boy who died when he fell off the stage in the auditorium. *Motorists on Christman Road near Houston look out for the phantom female hitchhiker in a purple dress. *When Martin High School in Laredo was built, no attention was given to the task of moving the bodies from the old cemetery site on which the building would rest. Consequently, strange sounds are heard throughout the school and shadowy figures haunt the gym. *The ghost of a mud-caked woman in a white dress is said by many witnesses to walk in the water near the banks of Zacate creek outside of Laredo. *The spirits of soldiers and Native Americans are often reported walking at the side of Old Nacogdoches Road out side of San Antonio.   Utah *Even nonbelievers in the spirit world are creeped out when they read that Lilly's tombstone in the Salt Lake City Cemetery decrees that she was a "victim of the Beast 666."  Vermont *Margaret Spencer, a once wealthy, vivacious beauty who died in 1943 at the age of 98, haunts Room 2 of the Old Stagecoach Inn in Waterbury, Vermont. Margaret is often glimpsed in a wispy, white shawl, and she loves to play tricks on the guests. Washington *Both employees and guests complain of the loud party taking place on the ninth floor of the Claremont Hotel--which stops abruptly whenever anyone investigates. Witnesses say that it sounds like a party from the Roaring Twenties, judging from the music that blares forth from the unseen merrymakers in this Seattle hotel. *The spirit of a Native American woman haunts the Pike Place Public Market, walking the area that was once sacred ground to her tribe.  Wisconsin *Perhaps because the Stritch dormitory at Cardinal Stritch University in Milwaukee was a former convent, today's students often encounter the ghosts of nuns in their rooms and in the halls. *Students residing in Humphrey Hall at Marquette University in Milwaukee must learn to live with the ghosts of children who died in the building when it served as the Milwaukee Children's Hospital. Even the security monitors have picked up images of singing, laughing, screaming children. With the ever-growing interest in the paranormal, ghosts, and hauntings on television and in motion pictures, Haunted Highways and Hotels will offer a whole new spooky area for readers to explore. The text will be presented in a number of exciting chapters that will deliver spine-tinglers and probably keep a lot of readers reluctant to go out after dark. With the book including a state-by-state guide to things that stalk the roads at night, enthusiastic ghost hunters could actually plan a Haunted Vacation from coast to coast--if they don't sharing their room with a ghost.